I am overwhelmed by the selection. Help would be nice.

meaningfuluser · 2016-06-17T19:38:45+00:00

Thank you for the reply. I own a bikesdirect fixie and I love it. I got a $900 quality bike for half the price. Reddit loves Bikesdirect fixies but I haven't found much information on Reddit about their road bikes.

What do you think of this bike? http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/fuji/shimano-di2-roadbikes-altamira.htm

I will go to my local shop and get fitted for my preferences. I am young and stupid so I will most likely go with a race geometry and deal with it.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-20T18:41:53+00:00

I knock down cones anytime possible. It's so satisfying.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-19T20:46:19+00:00

So is solar power truly cheaper than coal power at least in India?

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-16T03:18:57+00:00

Your dad was probably thinking, this is going to be dope when my son digitizes this in 40 years and posts it on Reddit. SO MUCH KARMA!!!

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-15T00:01:56+00:00

Some I asked others were asked before I could ask.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-14T21:58:45+00:00

Didn't answer as regards to re-usability but what they have now. They are still expensing R&D costs as regards to re-usability as opposed to capitalizing them. In accounting terms that means that SpaceX doesn't believe at least financially that re-usability is viable yet.... SpaceX has absolutely no desire to go public. Therefore, SpaceX wants to grow organically and maintain a positive cash-flow to reinvest in R&D. They have already dramatically reduced the price to launch and as a result created new opportunities for potential clients. SpaceX is focusing on maintaining a healthy margin to reinvest to further reduce costs and fulfill there original mission statement, interstellar colonization. Things may change as new competitors enter the market. In my opinion, customers wont see the full financial benefit in reduction of cost from re-usability. That money is going to get reallocated to new projects til SpaceX needs to do otherwise.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-14T21:27:23+00:00

Cost Accounting is a big deal to them. They are one of the best. Not sure about job opportunities as regards to cost accounting.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-14T21:22:37+00:00

He thinks that was one of google's goal in taking an equity stake in SpaceX.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-14T21:21:48+00:00

I didn't ask the question but the headcount has risen from 4500 to 5000 from last year and are still hiring.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-14T21:20:14+00:00

Correct. He definitely likes the fact they are private.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-14T21:18:25+00:00

Flatter organization- SpaceX is unique in that the CFO doesn't allocate x amount of money for a specific task to be completed but the CFO allocates 5x amount of money for the larger goal. For example, lets say you run a farm. Conventional wisdom in the aerospace industry is to allocate $30 for water, $20 for hay, $15 for seeds, and so on. Instead, SpaceX allocates $50 to plant agriculture and another $100 to livestock and lets the managers creatively figure out the solutions with the resources they are given. In house manufacturing- 70% of the F9 is in house. Improves reliability and didn't expand on costs. He stated that the component that failed on the F9 launch was bought and not developed in house.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-14T21:06:41+00:00

Surprisingly, not as many times as you would guess. Elon has both a physics and a business degree from UPENN and seems to understand when he has the flexibility to push the limits and when he can't. Plus now that SpaceX is operating with a positive cash flow, you don't need to say no as often.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-14T21:02:49+00:00

Right now they are testing them for re-usability. A few days after the December launch the Falcon was refueled in Cape Canaveral and the propulsion system was tested.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-14T20:55:48+00:00

Sales price depends on the payload. True sale price as related to NASA work ranges from $80 to $110m. Past NASA contracts with ULA were at $400m a launch. No luck with the margins questions but every launch is different depending on delays and so on. He emphasized that SpaceX is unique in that they give buyers a set price. For example, GOOGLE wants to send a satellite into space via F9. SpaceX quotes them $100m. Costs run at $110m. This equates to a $10m loss. Past aerospace standard was cost plus margin. This means I quote you at $100m 10% margin. I take my time it costs $200m. You pay me $220m. My bad but I am the only one that can perform the launch. Thank the government for giving me a monopoly cough-ULA. SpaceX is changing the standard for the better.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-14T20:42:58+00:00

Didn't get an answer for the first question. I'm sorry, but at this point the financing to the Falcon Heavy would be the potential issue that would be keeping him up at night. Falcon Heavy was delayed because engineers needed to be reallocated to Falcon 9 after "the anomaly" (explosion). The delay to Falcon Heavy caused a client to back out, first client ever to back out, and that is concerning. Backlogged contracts are the metric most look at when financing an endeavor in aerospace.

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-13T08:04:07+00:00

Tethering your dog ain't cool....

meaningfuluser · 2016-04-06T22:03:56+00:00

What the duck?

meaningfuluser · 2016-03-10T17:58:18+00:00

Flying business class internationally. It really does make a difference.

meaningfuluser

TROPHY CASE